Brockton Capital is under offer to buy the Camden headquarters of French Connection UK and Hugo Boss, in a landmark deal for the north London district.
The company will pay Threadneedle £64m – a 2.96% yield – for Centro 1 and 2, NW1.
The 100,000 sq ft office block is let on low passing rents of £25 per sq ft with upcoming reviews.
Brockton is betting it can achieve a substantial premium on the current rents, encouraged by a £50 per sq ft letting by Threadneedle to Conde Nast on nearby Albert Street in October last year.
Agents in the area have forecast rents for quality office space in Camden could soon exceed £65 per sq ft, as media, technology and fashion occupiers flee the record rents in the West End and the increasingly expensive City fringe markets.
The area is expected to undergo a transformation after Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi’s Market Tech Holdings brought Camden’s markets under single ownership for the first time last year. The anticipated regeneration would boost the area’s credentials as an office market.
Michael Elliott advised Threadneedle; Brockton Capital was unrepresented.
